BJP to make Sachar panel report an election issue

New Delhi, Sep 7 (UNI) Accusing the ruling UPA of pandering to the sentiments of Muslims ahead of an ''imminent mid-term polls'', the BJP today said placing of the Justice Rajender Sachar panel and Action Taken Report in Parliament was to ''curry Muslim favour for the Congress and its pseudo-secular UPA parties''.

BJP Parliamentary Party Spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the government seeking to create 100 Muslim-dominated districts and man them with Muslim officials would only take the country towards a second partition on communal lines.

He said there was a population of 29 crore people Below Poverty Line (BPL) in the country with 22 crore Hindus constituting 78.8 per cent of the total poor in the country. Five crore Muslims constituted 17.5 per cent of the population. One crore others constituted 3.7 per cent, he added.

''However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wants 'first rights' over the country's resources to them disregarding 22 crore poor Hindus. Is it a crime to be a Hindu in this country?'' he asked.

The BJP, he said, would make that an election issue and take it before the people in the coming elections.

He said the Sachar Committee wanted the government to provide 15 per cent employment for Muslims, separate civic amenities for them, 100 Urdu-medium schools and a total waiver of tuition fees for higher education.

''A Hindu student will have to bear the entire fees but if he coverts himself to Islam it would become a freeship. This is a dangerous trend,'' he remarked.

The panel's recommendation for carrying a 'headcount' in the Army was opposed by all the three Chiefs of Defence Services, he said.

He said the Hindu population was marginally ahead of its Muslim counterparts in terms of literacy though 'lagging behind' in terms of higher education and employment.

Mr Malhotra said if the status of Muslims was bad the ''political family'' which ruled the country for most of the years after Independence should take the blame. The Communists ruled West Bengal for the last three decades and the status of Muslims in the state was there for every one to see, he added.

UNI